Sunday 14 April 2013

Dene/Chipewyan Statistics

Dene children in La Loche, Saskatchewan in the 1940s


The Dene Suline language or the Chipewyan language 

Approximately 11,000 of the 11,860 people who chose Dene as their mother tongue in the 2011 Canada Census are Dene/Chipewyan from the historical Chipewyan regions south and east of Great Slave Lake.  7,955 or 72% were in Saskatchewan, 1,005 were in Manitoba, 510 plus urban dwellers in Alberta and 260 plus urban dwellers  in the Northwest Territories.



The communities within the Dene/Chipewyan traditional areas are shown below:
La Loche and the adjoining village of Clearwater River have the largest concentration of Dene Suline speakers in Canada with 3,020 or  27% of the total.

Saskatchewan

Most of Dene (Dene Suline) speaking communities of Saskatchewan are located in the northern half of the province. The area from the upper Churchill River west of Pinehouse Lake all the way north to Lake Athabasca and from Lake Athabasca east to the north end of Reindeer Lake is home to 7410 people who chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
3,050 were in the Lake Athabasca-Fond du Lac River area including Black Lake and Wollaston Lake in the communities of:

19% of the Dene/Chipewyan speaking population of Canada live in Fond du Lac, Stony Rapids and Black Lake.


12% of the Dene/Chipewyan speaking population of Canada live in Wollaston Lake. 

3,090 were in the Clearwater River area including Lac La Loche, Descharme Lake, Garson Lake and Turnor Lake in the communities of:

39% of the Dene/Chipewyan speaking population of Canada live in  the villages on this map of the Upper Churchill River.

830 were in the upper Churchill River area including Peter Pond Lake and Churchill Lake in the communities of:

Manitoba

Alberta

  • Fort Chipewyan 45 out of 847 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Fort McKay 30 out of 562 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Janvier (Janvier 194) 145 out of 295 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Janvier South 35 out of 104 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Cold Lake 149) 105 out of 594 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Cold Lake 149 B) 25 out of 149 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.

Northwest Territories

  • Fort Smith 30 out of 2093 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Fort Resolution 95 out of 474 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Lutselk'e 120 out of 295 residents chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.


The Dene/Chipewyan and the caribou

The Dene/Chipewyan followed the caribou herds. The map below shows caribou migrations and in red are archaeological  sites.  read more   visit the Site map